10 Mile Music Hall might be small, but it packs a punch

Imagine the kind of performance venue one might find in major U.S. cities like Denver, Chicago or Houston.

Now
scale that down into something more appropriate for Colorado’s Rocky Mountains,
and imagine yourself as close to the stage as you’ve ever been. Do that, and
you’ll be pretty close to knowing what it feels like inside one of Summit
County’s best and newest venues for live music.

Opening
in the fall of 2018, 10 Mile Music Hall came from the vision of co-owners Todd
Altschuler and Keegan Casey, who together previously managed The Barkley
Ballroom, a popular local watering hole to catch live music in Frisco.

They
closed the ballroom to focus their efforts on 10 Mile Music Hall. Now, the pair
has a true, tailor-made venue for live music at 710 Main St., Frisco, in the
heart of Summit County.

“The
place has been rocking,” Altschuler said of the new joint. “The fans are loving
the energy of the people up here and the mountains, and I think everyone is
just having a great time.”

With
regional bands and nationally known acts, like Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, The
Disco Biscuits or the Infamous Stringdusters, playing the 10 Mile Music Hall,
aficionados will want to keep a close eye on the venue’s website,
10MileMusic.com, which details all of its upcoming acts.

After
two years of work, the venue exploded on the scene with a series of sold-out
shows. Altogether, 10 Mile Music Hall houses roughly 8,000 square feet of
space. It has a vaulted ceiling reaching up to 33 feet at its peak and comes
with an industrial, yet rustic feel ideal for Summit County’s mountain
environment.

The
music hall is standing room only. A massive dance floor on the ground level
fronts the stage, and a wraparound balcony on the upper floor offers a bird’s
eye view of the performers. For drinks, there is one bar for each floor.

The
sound and lighting systems inside 10 Mile Music Hall are on par with what
someone might find inside much bigger venues, but unlike some large-scale
settings, 10 Mile Music Hall has plenty of bathrooms, water-bottle filling
stations and enough smartphone-charging hookups to keep the videos flowing on
Facebook and Instagram.

An
outdoor patio with retractable, sliding garage doors gives concertgoers a
chance to grab a breath of fresh air while staying warm by a gas fireplace.
Needless to say, many people have been loving
Summit’s new venue.

“It
was a small footprint, but we fit a lot into it,” Altschuler said of the
building, adding that everything inside 10 Mile Music Hall is also fully ADA
accessible.

Since
the October grand opening, the owners have dialed back the venue’s max capacity
to about 600 people. They opened housing just over 700 people but decided to
take that down a notch, thus ensuring that 10 Mile Music Hall stays as intimate
and comfortable as possible.

The
venue also plays host to some children’s programming, like Mister G, a Latin
Grammy award winner who does bilingual children’s songs, in addition to
large-scale private parties, such as weddings. Anyone wanting to reserve 10
Mile Music Hall, however, better act fast.

“I
don’t know what your status is, but if you want to have a wedding here, you
better get it now,” Altschuler said. “We’ve got most Saturdays throughout the
summer and fall booked already.”

Around
Memorial Day, 10 Mile Music Hall will start offering a food service provided by
Moe’s BBQ.

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